Inland Northwest Partners, Avista launch market research tool for local businesses

Inland Northwest Partners and Avista Corp. have launched SizeUp Inland NW, a market research tool to support growth of small and medium-sized businesses in the region.

SizeUp Inland NW is a free service available 24 hours a day that provides startups and businesses in Eastern Washington and North Idaho with industry-specific and hyperlocal market research.

Local businesses can use the tool to rank their business performance compared with industry competitors; discover potential customers and suppliers; optimize advertising to target customer segments and discover ways to save money, according to a news release.

“In today’s information economy, if you don’t have access to information your business is at a significant disadvantage. This is especially true now for small businesses in the midst of the coronavirus crisis,” Paul Kimmell, Avista regional business manager and board chair of Inland Northwest Partners, said in a statement.

Kimmell said small businesses are essential to revitalizing local economies and communities.

“There is no economic recovery without a small business recovery,” he said. “SizeUp is one more way we can help our local businesses and communities to be able to make more data-driven decisions to better operate, adapt, succeed and grow.”

SizeUp Inland NW uses big data, cloud computing and computer algorithms to provide businesses with insights and information on demographics, geographic, labor, wages, consumer spending and transportation, among other topics. The database is updated regularly.

“Entrepreneurs that are planning to open a business can use SizeUp to prepare a business plan and use the data to validate if their assumptions are in line with industry benchmarks,” Kimmel said. “We want our local businesspeople and future entrepreneurs to be able to use their time to strategize, research, and equip themselves to emerge from this crisis prepared.”

Avista and Inland Northwest Partners are hosting a free virtual event at 2 p.m. Feb. 3 to demonstrate how to use SizeUp Inland NW. Businesses are encouraged to register for the event at https://inwp.org/sizeup-inlandnw/.

SizeUp is a financial technology internet service company headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and London.

Inland Northwest Partners is a Liberty Lake-based nonprofit organization that works to enhance the economic vitality of the region through educational meetings, programs and seminars.